Systems for operating and controlling barriers are well known to control various types of barriers such as garage doors, swinging gates, sliding gates, and the like. Over the years there has been an increasing trend to operate multiple barriers in a structure. For example, in the housing market, builders are increasingly constructing homes having three- or four-car garages. Also, businesses, particularly warehouses and automobile repair shops, have for many years used multiple door configurations. In many instances, either for reasons of aesthetics or practicality, garage configurations include multiple independent doors generally corresponding to the number of cars that may be housed within the garage. In each of the previously described environments, each door, therefore, often required its own barrier movement operator, or garage door opener (GDO).
As a way to efficiently open and close multiple doors, systems have been built that allow for operation of more than one barrier operator at the same time. Such systems may for example conveniently allow a business operator to close all the doors with a single button press at the end of the day or open all of the doors at the start of the day. Motors, such as induction motors, that drive the movable barrier operators, however, draw a significant amount of current during operation, especially at the start of its operation cycle. For instance, at start up a typical garage door operator motor can pull two to ten times the amount of current necessary during other portions of the motor's operation cycle. When operating multiple barrier operators, the current draw from the structure's power supply can be significant. For example, in some instances, the current draw may trip the circuit breaker, thereby disrupting a business or inconveniencing a homeowner.